


Quiet

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [29]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fictober 2019, Gen, Horizon (Mass Effect), MEFFictober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-07 22:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21225425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober Prompt: Ghost town. Shepard arrives at the Horizon colony and finds... nothing.





	Quiet

Shepard had long ago concluded that there were many different kinds of quiet.

There was the solitary quiet of time spent alone. You could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall and the bustle and hum of the busy world outside, but you could sit in your own little bubble of peace for a little while and just relax.

There was the eerie quiet of midnight, when the world around you slept, and every little noise seemed magnified and menacing. The ghost stories you’d heard as a child would come rushing back, and no matter how your rational mind tried to dismiss them, a tiny part of your imagination persisted in whispering  _ what if? _

There was the solemn quiet of a funeral, when the presider asked for a moment of silence. You bowed your head and spent a minute wrapped up in your own thoughts and prayers and memories of the deceased.

There was the peaceful quiet an evening with a lover. Curled up in each other’s arms, no words were necessary. Your hearts beat together as you soak in each other’s warmth.

There was the vibrating, anticipatory quiet just before a big surprise. You waited in the dark, still and silent, trying not to laugh and give the whole thing away. It would be a hilarious practical joke, or a surprise party, or an epic game of hide-and-seek. The waiting was half the fun.

There was the anxious quiet of a hospital waiting room. This quiet vibrated, too, but with terror rather than joy. You watched the doors, hoping and dreading that the doctor would return with news.

There was the pregnant quiet of the concert hall as the conductor lifted her baton. The audience seemed to hold its collective breath, waiting for the downbeat to fall and the music to begin.

So many different kinds of quiet, but  _ this  _ sent chills up Shepard’s spine.

The colony on Horizon lay absolutely still, lifeless, and dead silent. The bustle of daily life was gone. Nothing moved. Machinery sat dormant. People’s belongings lay where they’d fallen. The entire town was empty.

Evidence of a firefight scarred the buildings and the ground. Bullets had glanced off walls and shattered windows. The occasional dead Husk or Collector lay in the grass. And nothing moved. Nothing moved.

This once-vibrant colony had become a ghost town. Its people had put up a fight, but still the Collectors had herded them up like so much cattle and whisked them away. An entire colony, scooped up and carted off, leaving behind only monuments, empty and dark.

And deafeningly, oppressively quiet.


End file.
